I'm a vegan, a long time reader, and a slow but determined runner. I'm a PhD and math professor with a great family and a pack of dogs. Follow me on Facebook at http://facebook.com/zuzubeat or Twitter and Instagram @zuzubeat

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

100 days ago, I was doing a yoga session, a brief 30 minute practice, with a youtube video from Adriene. In her video, she said that even if she only practiced mountain pose each day for 100 days, she would feel amazing. I thought I would attempt a pose every day for 100 days and see what happened. I chose crow because it was a pose that I could do (most of the time), but struggled with. My goal in 2015 was to be able to handstand/headstand, but I'm not there yet, so working on this arm balance seemed like a good idea. I also liked the idea of doing something that made me happy for 100 days.

Here is what I've learned/gained from this journey:

I've been to the mat every day since I started, whether for 5 minutes or for 50. This is amazing. While I am no accomplished yogi, I feel yoga in my soul. But I've never before had this kind of consistency in my practice. It is beautiful. And really, this challenge to myself has kept me accountable to that. Sure, it helped that I knew you were watching, rooting me on. But in the end, it was my own soul that wanted to be consistent. In my education classes, I teach that intrinsic motivation is more powerful than extrinsic. This is true in learning math or practicing yoga.

I am strong. My core strength has improved. My arm strength has improved. My leg strength has improved. After I finished my PhD program, lots of people asked me what I was going to do with my free time. I responded that I wanted to get strong. I've played a bit with my pull-up bar. I've bought a 12 pound medicine ball. But nothing has improved my strength like crow. Now that I know I am strong, I want to be a superhero. I can do anything. I can fly! Of course I can, I can crow!

My balance has improved.At the beginning, I was able to hold the pose for only a few seconds, now I can hold it for at least a minute. I understand dristé better. By sliding my gaze focus forward, my body naturally assumes balance. Not just in crowpose, though. While attending a yoga workshop last week, I noticed that my warriors were better balanced, my lunges smooth.

Because I now have a better grasp of dristé, I'm now working towards more funky crow variations: the flying crow, one-legged, EPk2.... it's exciting to challenge myself, and while I get frustrated when I can't do it, I know that I am strong, and I can balance. So, I just need to keep trying. Every day.

I've gotten creative with my pictures. You may not know this, but I take most of my own pictures. I have a 10 second timer on my tablet, so I set it, then hustle into position. There have been lots of dog-butt outtakes! But I also have developed a more discerning eye for my pictures. There's better lighting outside. I like color. And I've gotten into looking around and asking myself "Can I crow on that?"

Speaking of dog-butts, the dogs have LOVED this practice. All the critters like yoga, they think it it playtime. But they love that I'm down everyday. Lily likes to check out my hands, she's sure I'm staring at something good to eat on the ground. (Which may be true, she's a beagle. To her, everything on the ground is good to eat.) Copper thinks that anytime I have my face near the ground I must need 100 kisses, and she takes her quotas very seriously. Jack is a big fan of my yoga mat. And he's a pro at both up and down dog poses.

Doing this for 100 days, I know I have become a better yoga practitioner. But I won't stop now.

Don't worry.

Here's my progress. Taking pictures every day has really helped me to notice my improvements. Look at that! After 50 days, my feet were much higher off the ground. By 100 days, my back is straighter and my butt is way up there! Just imagine how great my crow could be if I KEEP practicing it!

Several people have asked "What now?" What will I be doing now that I've done 100 crows? Well, here's what I'm thinking...

First of all, I want to encourage all of you to crow with me today. If you're not there yet, practice!

Secondly, I will be finishing out 2015 with more crows. So it won't just be 100 days of crow. It'll be 116 days of crow! Whoo!

I'm going to next be working towards more funky crows and arm balances.

Starting Jan 1, I'm going to begin my journey to inversions. I want to headstand, handstand, scorpion, pincha. So, my daily pics will be a little more varied. But my goal will be to hit the mat every day in 2016.

Or my driveway. Or the trail. Or some weird rock that calls to me. Because I can crow anywhere!

I hope I'm not getting sick. My throat is sore this am. This is the last week of my "science experiment" although I wasn't very good at it last week.
I've now been crowing for 50 days. 50 more to go! If I were Mark Whatney, I'd eat one of my 5 meals today.

I haven't done as much reading in the last month as I usually do. No excuses, really. I'm busy with getting my work published and this semester I am teaching quite a bit. There have been three books I've read recently that deserve discussion, however.

A book to read....The advent of Sage by Scott Newman

You may recall I reviewed Newman's first book, Draco, here. This second book of the series finds Draco going to Japan to fight the Yakuza, the evil criminal empire that killed his friends and the love of his life. With great battle scenes, and martial arts sequences, this book often reads like a graphic novel. I particularly enjoyed the X-Men like special school that Draco has clearly been chosen for, through his discovery of the book that started it all in the first novel. Of course, Draco is the most talented student since Sage, who becomes part of the Yazuka, and Draco is pitted against him in several fights, including the climatic battle. Poignant in imagery is one of these first fights atop a snowy mountain.
My favorite part about this book, however, is the character development of Kat, Draco's partner who not only saves him in several situations, but most importantly, grounds Draco in his self discovery.
Newman's writing style is clearly an homage to martial arts films and Japanese animation, and his dialogue and character development have improved in this second novel. Frequently, authors find their voice and flow with additional publications, and Newman fits in this category. We are left eagerly awaiting the next adventures. I had a chance to ask Scott about his next book, which is currently being written. He said that Draco's adventures would continue in the next book with a super Martial Arts tournament. This new book, he says will have more action and that the characters will be more diverse and philosophical. I look forward to future books in this series!

A book to avoid.....Go set a Watchman by Harper Lee

I loved To kill a mockingbird, so when I heard that Lee's first book featuring Scout was going to be published, I pre-ordered it. At first, it was okay. This book started with 20-something Scout returning to Maycomb from New York, for a vacation. I could picture Scout growing up to be this Jean-Louise, and it was fun to think about how these characters would have evolved. However, it quickly soured. First of all, Jem is dead, and this issue is never resolved. Secondly, the pseudo-romance between Scout and Hank is tedious. There is one major issue with this book that should cause any potential reader to have second thoughts. Racism.
After I'd ordered the book, I read the initial reviews of this book, several people noted that some readers may be disappointed in finding out that Atticus was a racist. I wondered how terrible it could be. IT WAS TERRIBLE.Holy goodness, bad. Scout finds out upon her return that not only is racism rampant in Maycomb, but her father, Atticus, and her maybe fiance Henry are members of the Klan. The second half of this book is dedicated to arguments and conversations in which both try to justify themselves to Scout. I couldn't wait for it to just be over, and I'm not only sad that I spent money on this book, but I may never be able to read Mockingbird again.

A book to revisit....The Time Traveler's wife by Audrey Niffenger

Sometimes, like above, a book is so terrible that I am dissuaded from reading anything at all. So I revisited one of my top-ten favorite books, a story about a chrono-displaced man and the woman he loves. Re-reading favorite books is soothing, like hearing a beloved song on the radio, or wearing an old, worn t-shirt. It is comfortable and fits right. I love re-reading a favorite book, because each time I find something new to love about the book.
This time around, I have been really entranced by how Niffenger chose to order the book. Really, she could have told the story from the point of view of Claire- meeting Henry at age 6, and her acceptance of Henry's comings and goings, or it could have been told in Henry's order, can you imagine meeting someone at age 20 who has known you for years? I've also been fascinated with the idea that this story could also have been told from Alba's eyes. I could see how a sequel to this book all about Alba would have done well, but I am so glad it wasn't written. That would have cheapened the love story here.

This week, I am looking forward to the new releases of The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood and Free Country: The Children's Crusade by Neil Gaiman. Ahh, fall. Bring me cool weather, warm coffee, and some lovely books to read.

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

The fraud police. We all know about them. You may call them by another name, but they're there for everyone. Some of us worry about the fraud police more than others, but everyone has at one point or another felt the fear of being discovered by the fraud police.

I never put a name to this fear before I read Amanda Palmer's book, The Art of Asking. But she fears the fraud police, too.

The fraud police. This is the fear of someone one day discovering that you've been faking it. That you're not worthy. And because we all harbor these self doubts, we all live in fear of being outed by the FP.

Here's the thing. I am a successful person. I am smart. I am fun. I work hard. And I live in fear of the fraud police.

When I was finishing my PhD program, my mentor called me and told me to apply for graduation. I waited a month before I told anyone.

A month.

Why? Because what if they'd made a mistake? What if my research was really stupid and not worthy of the degree? WHAT IF I TOLD PEOPLE AND THEN DIDN'T DO IT??

This is the fraud police.

I finished my program. I invited my family to graduation and it was wonderful, magical. Today I spoke with my mentor and we discussed publishing something together. Now I am one of the few people at my work with a PhD, and the only woman in my division with this standing.

But then, in a string of emails among a committee that I serve on, there was a debate. I weighed in with what I thought was a good option, and several people thought that my idea was a great one. However, one person on the committee, a person that I've looked up to for a long time, a person with lots of experience, sent me an email that said "You're wrong, DOC." Ergh. Fraud police. Was I wrong to voice my idea? Lots of other people liked it, and in the end, the committee is going to follow my suggestion.

Later, in a discussion with him, I found out that he felt slighted that I didn't automatically just agree with him. His feelings were hurt. Huh.

So. What do we do about this blasted fraud police?

In the end, there is nothing we CAN do. The fraud police will always be there.

Monday, September 21, 2015

On Sunday, I ran the Air Force/Navy Half Marathon. This is my 5th half, and by far my best. I had a good training summer, even with a three week hiatus of Niki visitation. The weather was great, I felt great. I forgot to eat breakfast, but Rob met me up at mile 8.5 with a vegan bar, which was AMAZING.

This year, for the first time, the race management didn't outright ban ipods and earphones. In the past, they have, but everyone (at least in my part of the pack) disregarded that rule, because the worst thing that could happen is that you wouldn't be allowed to win. Trust me, no one won in my part of the pack. My part of the pack, winning is just FINISHING.

This year, I was glad to see them rescind that ruling. I mean, I'm a slow runner. I finished in record time, 2:59, but that's still HOURS of just listening to your feet pounding and your breath heaving. I find I actually slow down when I start thinking too much, which I do without a distraction of an audio track.

Even with the audio, I can still let myself slip into a zone where I over think. For instance, as I was coming up on mile 8, I passed my friend, Rune, running the other direction. Rune ran the half, and is much faster than I. He was at mile 10 or so. His partner, and my friend, Cari, had joked on the train ride in that he would finish the half about at the same pace that she walked the 5 mile race course.

I got to thinking. And when a mathematician gets to thinking, what we are really doing is writing and solving word problems.

If Rune does 13 miles in the same time that Cari does 5 miles, how much faster is he running? If I was still only at mile 8 when Rune and Cari finished, would Rune/my speed = My speed/Cari? If I ran at a 10% increased speed, what would that mean?

By the time I was done calculating these out in my head, I noticed that my pace had dropped from 11:15 to 14:55 per mile. Shoot. That is why I need my ipod.

Anyway, the RUNNING SEASON is now upon us. If you are a runner, good races friends. If you are not, watch out for runners on the road. Especially those wearing ipods.

Sunday, September 6, 2015

For today, we were to make a vegan dish inspired by a book or movie, etc.

I thought I'd be inspired by the only time I liked a movie or tv show better than a book. Because, lets face it, the book is always better. Except here.

Sorry to tell you, Piper Kerman, your book was poorly written and pretty terrible. But you, go, girl. You get mad revenues for the tv show, which is great.

Season 3 came out, and no spoiler alerts, because we like to take our time. One episode per night, if that.

But there's a scene where Chang makes fritters in the prison microwave using frito chips and peas.

Raise your hand if you're an OITNB watcher and you didn't want to try that.
Now put them down because you're a liar.

In this scene, Chang smashes up a bag of fritos (vegan!) Mixes in peas, and ends up with something that looks delicious. A brief scan of the web reveals multiple blog posts where people have tried to replicate her method. The consensus is that microwaving doesn't get you anything with an appealing texture. They all recommend pan frying the fritters. I do 2 only as an experiment, as I think frying fritos in even more oil has got to be gross.

I also microwave a couple, as she does in the show. These get the best look, but end up being mushy inside.

And I bake a few, which initially looks like a great idea, but then they all fall apart when I go to flip them.

Sigh. I resort to then making Orange is the new black bean nachos. With black beans, vegan crumbles, shredded romaine lettuce, daiya cheddar, sliced jalapeño and some salsa atop a bed of tortilia chips.

Saturday, September 5, 2015

My goal yesterday was to make a lovely Buddha Bowl. My favorite restaurant Buddha Bowl I ate a number of years ago when visiting my dear friend Kimmy in NYC. She was performing with a belly dance troupe in Grenwich village and I took myself to dinner when she was rehearsing before the show.

While wandering around, I found a cute little restaurant that had a communal table. The bowl I ordered and ate there was served in a wooden bowl, and was brown rice, tofu, red cabbage, greens, and other root vegetables. The next two times I visited my friend, I looked and looked for this restaurant. I never found it again....

So, today I went down to our rental house that is currently on the market to paint. I got a little frustrated due to an alarm issue, and the fact I left some necessities at home. On my way home, I deviated from my original plan and I stopped at our favorite Chinese takeout where they have a number of vegan items on the menu. I picked up some vegan General Tsos Tofu with broccoli, and at the liquor store next door, a bottle of Malbec.

So I guess I recreated a restaurant meal by buying a restaurant meal?

Now, do you want to hear about my alarm issue? One of our previous tenants installed an alarm system. I left the doors open while I was painting to air it out, and the system kept beeping. So. I went to the wall panel to try to turn off the beeps, and somehow that activated and armed the system. The next time I opened the door, sirens started wailing. Holy crap.

So I called the alarm cimpany and told them about my situation. They said they couldn't/wouldn't disarm it or reset it or even tell me how because I wasn't the account holder (the tenant). They also said they wouldn't send a technician unless I opened an account with them for the property. Bah.

Giving up on getting any help from them, I pulled the system from the wall, and started pulling wires from the unit. It stopped before the cops showed up!

Friday, September 4, 2015

For day 5 of Vegan MoFo, we are to share the best sandwich ever. The sandwich I will share with you here could have also been my post for breakfast or for quick and easy.

How do I know this is the best sandwich ever? Easy, I have eaten it TWO TIMES TODAY.

Yup. I planned to have it for lunch today, and something else for dinner. But it was so delicious, I ate it all before I took any pictures! Oh! So sad!

Today I went on my long run. I did a little over 11 miles, and when I got home, I was tired and hungry. This is my favorite post-run meal.

This sandwich, a little yoga, some netflix binge watching, and a nap are my post run glories!

I first got the idea for this sandwich from a Vegan Zombie take on a Strong Hearts breakfast. Over the years, I have modified this recipe to be my own. I call it my tofu breakfast sandwich. The two most important ingredients are a nooch encrusted tofu and a tortilia.

Today, I started by tossing my tofu in a mixture of nutritional yeast and flax seed meal. I make this sandwich so often that I keep a mixture of this combination in my fridge at all times.

Then I put them in my cast iron skillet with a tiny bit of coconut oil, and two tempeh bacon slices.

Today I also added some daiya cheddar shreds and some baked sweet potato. I generally bake a sweet potato or two every time I turn on my oven, I use them in everything. I've also been known to add greens, both steamed and raw, avocado, or zucchini. I love to drizzle a bit of hot sauce over top.

Thursday, September 3, 2015

But first, let me tell you about my day. Sigh, Thursdays are exhausting. I drafted an overload of classes this semester, and also have choir practice. So I have to get up super early to work out, and I have all three meals either on the go or at work. I actually got home a little early tonight, but I am pooped. It will take me a few days to get back into the swing of the semester.

Anyway, I love adding in fruit to my entrée dishes. Especially at this time of year, when fruits are so fresh and juicy! I have two dishes to share with you.

The first is a dinner recipe from The Vegan Zombie. A citrus baked tofu.

I baked the tofu in a marinade of orange juice and tamari. Then finished it off in a skillet.

I also made some couscous, and broccolini.

The second dish I want to share with you is a Happy Herbivore recipe for a peach and white bean quesidilia.

I love quesidilias!! I eat quesidilias, but never get through a loaf of bread.

Just a simple mash of beans, tahini, basil, and pink salt. Then an addition of peach slices and romaine lettuce.

For the third day of Vegan MoFo, I share with you a quick and easy meal.
This meal isn't necessarily quick to cook, but it is quickly assembled, and the perfect kind of meal for the start of a busy semester.

Today was the first day of fall semester classes. I have drafted a heavy load this term, and will need to start pre-prepping meals and packing lunches.

For these baked potatoes, I used my automatic timer setting on my oven to get them cooking while I was at work. I washed the potatoes the night before, then this morning, I set my oven to come on at 3pm at 300 degrees. I vary how long I cook my potatoes. If I can cook them all day (generally in the winter when I don't mind the oven being on all day, I cook them for 5-6 hours at 200 degrees.

I love some vegan products to top my potatoes. I have steamed veggies (for convenience, I buy pre-washed and chopped veggies that I can steam in the bag), maple tempeh bacon, tofutti sour cream, daiya cheddar cheese, and earth balance butter.

While I prepped my potato, I also made up my lunch for tomorrow. In addition, when I baked my potatoes, I also baked two sweet potatoes that I will use in other recipes this week. I also steamed all the veggies so that I can eat them on Friday!

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

For today's MoFo, we were asked to veganize a meal from our childhood.

I was not raised in a veg household, but I became a vegetarian at the age of 10. At that point, I started to do most of my own cooking. Before that, I honestly donxt remember that many family meals. My dad traveled quite a bit for work, and my mom worked at night. The only meals I remember with any sort of clarity were the chicken curry, jamazetti, and hamburger gravy.

The hamburger gravy was the first recipe I recreated with vegetarian ingredients on my own. I used fake meat crumbles, and felt pretty proud of myself. This went on to become a favorite comfort food in my adult household. My daughter used to request it all the time.

When I made the shift to veganism, this recipe was an easy transition. As I became a better cook, and started learning more about food and wholezfood ingredients, this recipe has evolved.

Here it is in its current incarnation. A vegan tempeh gravy over polenta and wilted arugula.

In a skillet, steam tempeh with a little water. Add tamari. Break up chunks with a potato masher.
When it is soft, add flour and milk to make gravy. Add pepper to taste.
In second skillet, use a little bit of oil to fry up polenta rounds. After they are done, wilt the arugula.

On plates, place polenta, top with arugula then gravy. I also added a little dill for flavor and color.
Serves 3.

I have found that I became a decent cook when I was vegetarian, but now, as a vegan, I feel like I am a very good cook. Have any of you found that?

Otherwise, the semester starts today! So my lovely summer freetime is gone. Sigh. No more long runs every day. My puppies will miss me during the day!

Monday, August 31, 2015

I will once again be blogging for the awesome Vegan Month of food for September.

Vegan MoFo allows us to share delicious, healthy foods with the world, and I'm excited you are here!

This year, the folks at Vegan MoFo have changed it up a bit, and every day we will be posting on a different topic. Today, the prompt is: Rise and shine! It's MoFo time! Tell us about your breakfast!

I generally have green smoothies for breakfast. My favorite combo is spinach, banana, and almond milk. But with summer, my fruit haul has been bountiful. I've been cutting and chopping fruits to freeze, and enjoying some sweeter smoothies lately!

Today, I started with 4 ice cubes, and 1 cup of water. I recently have been reading Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink, and one thing Ixve been thinking about as a result of that book is that I feel fuller in the morning when my smoothie is BIGGER. So I've been adding in extra ice and water. This not only tricks my brain, but also hydrates! Win!

Next up, I add protein powder. Now, vegans are absolutely able to get all the protein they need from a whole food diet, and not need supplements. But on days when I have a good run, I find a little protein powder helps. Lately, I've been really digging on this vanilla pea powder from Raw Green Organics. I also added in some powdered wheat grass and orac. If I had raw spinach, that would be better.

Frozen bananas are a must, and add a great creamy texture to a smoothie. I like to buy the discounted bananas and I store them In my fridge.

*note: some people like to get crazy with bananas in their smoothies, but that adds a lot of calories. Unless you're an athlete who is mono-mealing, trust me, no more than one banana....

Happy almost September! This year, once again, I will be blogging daily for VEGAN MOFO! So expect to be bombarded with all sorts of awesomeness. But, more on that Tomorrow!

This week classes start. Usually we start right after Labor Day, but this year that falls too late. So, it will take a little adjusting getting back into the swing of normal life.

Food this week: I've been using a lot of the Happy Herbivore plan meals lately, but for September, I want to get back into mixing it up with recipes from my burgeoning cookbook collection and stuff I just make up. Since I will be welcoming MoFo readers, I'll try to be better about posting the origin of my recipies this month.

For instance, here's a meal I invented the other night. I call it Vegetable pasta

Cook the pasta according to directions. Drain and set aside.
Sautee the onions in a light drizzle of olive oil. Add green peppers.
When onions start to get lighter, add mushrooms and sweet potato. Sautee for 3-5 minutes.
Add tomato, and seasonings.

In bowls, top pasta with veggies & serve.
Serves 4.

Simple.

Exercise this week: I am still training for distance running. I'd like to get to marathon distance by November, but right now, I'm focusing on my September race, the Air Force/ Navy half marathon. So I am back to running. A lot. I also am entering week two of a strength training program (BBT). It is pretty intense. The first workout I did was just for abs, and it hurt to laugh or sneeze for two full days afterward! I'm also still doing yoga every day. This month I'll be participating in a daily yoga challenge on Ig, if you want to follow there.

Reading this week: I am currently reading Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee, Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink, and listening to The Amazing adventures of Kavalier and Clay (one of my favorites!) by Michael Chabon, and The Holy by Daniel Quinn.

Guide to initials: After each recipe above, I've listed initials of where I got said recipe. Every recipe I make is a variation of what is given. I've never been good at following rules. If I've taken a wide spin on a recipe, I list both my initials & the source, meaning that the meal I make is so much of a variation I take ownership.
(Z)- me
(HH)- Happy Herbivore
(TVZ)-The vegan zombie
(IM)-Isa Moskowitz

This has been a busy, busy summer. With all of my traveling, my writing and studies, and having my niece with me, I haven't run, cooked, or read as much as I've wanted. And now, the pre-semester stuff starts this week!
This past weekend, I traveled with my family to Minneapolis for my doctoral hooding ceremony. It was pretty groovy. Starting Wednesday, I plan on getting back to my own food, resuming running, and starting a 16 week training program to build all-over body strength (BBT).

This week I'll be super busy getting ready for the fall semester. I have to go to work almost every day. I'm hoping that I get mostly ready by Wednesday evening, I'd like to have a vegan field trip date with my friend, Tina, on Thursday. I've rearranged my long run day this week as I have a defense call with my committee on Friday so my dissertation can go into publication phase. Saturday, I'll start a moonlighting gig at the Md. Ren Faire. If you go, come buy a hat from me! I'll be at The Tall Toad most weekends!

I am on a 17 week drive to GET STRONG. I am determined to keep my winning ski race streak alive vs. my dad in CO this year! And I really want abs. So this week I start week 1 of bikini body training, where I will add strength training 3x per week to my running regimine.

Sunday, July 12, 2015

8 Weeks of Healthy Habits! Last week! Are you still here? Whether you've been keeping up with the challenge or if you've quit, but want to jump back in, let's go out with a bang! Post about what you're doing!

Welcome to week 8 of our #8weeksofhealthyhabits. Each week, I will post an overview of the upcoming week's goals with some helpful links and info. The purpose of this challenge is not to be stressful, preachy, or overbearing, just a fun way to incorporate some new ideas. If you like something that we do, please feel free to incorporate it into your daily/weekly schedule and really make it a new habit. If you're looking to really up your game, try the #DaisyDukeStrong challenge at the bottom of this post.

The fun part about these challenges is the sharing. See if you can post a thought or a selfie each day to the facebook page about what you're doing. If you're an Instagram user, you can also post there, using the hashtags #PIG and #8weeksofhealthyhabits

Week 8:

Sunday: Take some time to reflect on your day & the last week. Write in a journal, or share to your blog. Journaling on a regular basis can help you gain insight to your own humanity.

Monday: How many crunches can you do? If you've been keeping up with the crunch challenge, you're close to 200! Wake up early and see what you can do!

Thursday: Eat a monster salad for lunch! How many greens can you fit in your bowl?

Friday: Free Fitness! Post a selfie of you doing your favorite activity to the facebook page! Each Friday will be Free Fitness Friday. You get to choose the activity- just get up and do something and share it with the rest of us! If you post to Instagram, don't forget your hashtags, #PIG and #8weeksofhealthyhabits

Oh, man, I have so much to do this week. Today I'll finish proofing my dissertation so it can go to my committee this week. I have to put in some maintenance hours at the rental house, since we're putting it up for sale (if you want to buy an adorable house next to Pax River, let me know!), and I need to make marshmallow shooters for 30 people! (Marshmallows of coyrse are not vegan or vegetarian, so I will call mine a Dandies shooter!) I also need to make a Dr.s appointment, get my dogs groomed, and clean my car. Whew! I'm tired. Better go back to bed.

Of course this week I will continue doing Yoga every day. I'm cutting back my LSD run this Friday to 10 miles since lately when I've been tryin 15+ I've really struggled. I'm going to reclaim my joy in a nice 10 miler.

It's been a while since I've shared a recipe, so I wanted to give you this one, which I've recently discovered. I was never an Ice cream fan, it was always so cold, and it felt like it coated my throat. This recipe, though is for "Nice Cream" which I love on hot days, especially after a run. It can be a dessert, but it is also healthy enough to serve as a breakfast! There are also lots of variations you can play with. This recipe serves 1, but is easy to double or make even up to 4 servings at once, depending on your food processor.

Put bananas and peanut butter in your food processor, and add a splash of non-dairy milk. I would start with less than what you think you will need then add more until you get a creamy texture.

Eat right away. You'll be amazed at how the natural sweetness of the bananas comes through.

Some variations:Instead of the chocolate PB, try adding regular PB for a nutty flavorAdd 2 dates and a drop of vanilla extract for a sweet vanilla flavorAdd a cup of strawberries (I pre-freeze these, too) for a strawberry flavorThe possible combinations are endless!

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Welcome to week 7 of our #8weeksofhealthyhabits. Each week, I will post an overview of the upcoming week's goals with some helpful links and info. The purpose of this challenge is not to be stressful, preachy, or overbearing, just a fun way to incorporate some new ideas. If you like something that we do, please feel free to incorporate it into your daily/weekly schedule and really make it a new habit. If you're looking to really up your game, try the #DaisyDukeStrong challenge at the bottom of this post.

The fun part about these challenges is the sharing. See if you can post a thought or a selfie each day to the facebook page about what you're doing. If you're an Instagram user, you can also post there, using the hashtags #PIG and #8weeksofhealthyhabits

Week 7:

Sunday: Take some time to reflect on your day & the last week. Write in a journal, or share to your blog. Journaling on a regular basis can help you gain insight to your own humanity.

Monday: It's dance party time again! Since the reunion is just a few weeks away, how about the Cotton eye Joe, or the Boot Scootin' boogie?

Tuesday: Green smoothie day again! Today I made a green smoothie with all of my leftover fruits, strawberries, bananas, peaches, and some kale. Yum.

Wednesday: Go for a walk today during lunch or after work. Give it 10 minutes. Then see if you want to do more!

Thursday: Choose a healthy snack. Mia makes this awesome black bean dip which is basically just mashed black beans, lime juice, and garlic powder. Great for celery and carrot dipping!

Friday: Free Fitness! Post a selfie of you doing your favorite activity to the facebook page! Each Friday will be Free Fitness Friday. You get to choose the activity- just get up and do something and share it with the rest of us! If you post to Instagram, don't forget your hashtags, #PIG and #8weeksofhealthyhabits

Saturday: Meditate for 10 minutes

Daisy Duke Strong Challenge

Now, if you want that extra challenge, here's the week overview of #DaisyDukeStrong! Myself, I did better with these last week. It was easier to break up everything into smaller sets.

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

This week, I'm making recipes from some of my newest cookbooks!
I set aside 25 books to read over the summer, and realized last week how many of them were vegan/health related! I need to get reading/cooking!

Otherwise, I'm continuing to train for my marathon, and doing yoga every day.

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Welcome to week 6 of our #8weeksofhealthyhabits. Each week, I will post an overview of the upcoming week's goals with some helpful links and info. The purpose of this challenge is not to be stressful, preachy, or overbearing, just a fun way to incorporate some new ideas. If you like something that we do, please feel free to incorporate it into your daily/weekly schedule and really make it a new habit. If you're looking to really up your game, try the #DaisyDukeStrong challenge at the bottom of this post.

The fun part about these challenges is the sharing. See if you can post a thought or a selfie each day to the facebook page about what you're doing. If you're an Instagram user, you can also post there, using the hashtags #PIG and #8weeksofhealthyhabits

Week 6:

Sunday: Take some time to reflect on your day & the last week. Write in a journal, or share to your blog. Journaling on a regular basis can help you gain insight to your own humanity.

Monday: Try a dance workout! Boogie around!

Tuesday: Try having a day with no processed foods. See if you can eat only fresh, whole foods!

Wednesday: Set your alarm 10 minutes early and do crunches before you get dressed for your day.

Thursday: Drink a glass of water before each meal.

Friday: Free Fitness! Post a selfie of you doing your favorite activity to the facebook page! Each Friday will be Free Fitness Friday. You get to choose the activity- just get up and do something and share it with the rest of us! If you post to Instagram, don't forget your hashtags, #PIG and #8weeksofhealthyhabits

The little stars next to the smoothies are a reminder to myself that I'm going to make an extra smoothie each morning, and freeze it for Mia to take home with her in a few weeks.

Rob told me the other day that he noticed we rarely ate the same recipe twice in a month. That's true. I am always finding & putting together new combinations. So he's been telling me when he really loves something so that I can repeat it. Lately, he's really enjoyed the Italian pasta salad (a Happy Herbivore recipe), my chickpea "tuna" salad sandwiches (my own recipe), and last night he loved something that I just threw together, so I'm recording that recipe here now, that way I can re-create it.

In a skillet, I cooked the broccoli for a few minutes (it came sttaight out of the freezer) then added the squash and beans, and the nooch, flax, and salt, cover and cook a few more minutes. Then I added the rice, and the cheese, but didn't stir, I just covered the skillet and lowerd the burner to the lowest setting, letting the cheese steam and melt into the rice. Then I stirred it just before serving. This made two large servings. If you added more rice and/or a second summer squash, it could have served 4.

I'm still running. I'm having a mind block about long distances. In the last 2 weeks, I've run LSD runs of over 12 miles each, but getting past 13 seems like a mental barrier. I'm going to try to run 14 on Friday, and have Rob run the last few with me, to get me over my mind block.

Feeling pretty proud also, that I've been doing yoga every single day in June so far! I love it.

One day last week, I was feeling a little overwhelmed, so I took myself on a me-date. I took some kind supplies to the homeless folks on Indiana Square, then treated myself to a movie. I saw Love & Mercy, about Brian Wilson, and it was fantastic. Pet Sounds is my favorite album of all time, and this movie really told a lovely story. I highly recommend it!